1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of display screens on electronic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to scrolling through information on a display screen.
2. The Background
Various electronic devices have display screens for displaying information to and/or receiving input from a user. These devices may include computers, set-top boxes, pagers, and cellular phone, among others. When the information to be displayed on the screen exceeds the size limitations of the screen, it must be determined how the user is supposed to traverse through the information. Normally this is handled through scrolling.
Typical scrolling usually involves simply moving, the information up or down a set number of pixels in response to commands from the user. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating how scrolling is typically accomplished on a computer. A scroll bar 100 sets aside a portion of the screen for the control of the scrolling. A user wishing the move the information on the screen up a set number of pixels may move a mouse pointer to the up scroll arrow 102. A down scroll arrow 104 is provided for moving the information down a set number of pixels. How many pixels comprise the set number of pixels may normally be determined by the operating system or application designer. Other types of scrolling may be provided as well. If a user clicks on an area 106 of the scroll bar above the thumb 108 indicating the current information location, the display may jump up a different set number of pixels. This allows a user to choose between a slower scrolling rate and a higher one. For example, in a word processing application, the up and down scroll arrows 102, 104 may scroll the information up or down one line of text, while clicking on an empty area 106 of the scroll bar may scroll the information up one full display screen.
A problem, however, may be encountered in devices that do not have mouse capabilities and/or do not have a lot of room for extraneous keys, such as set-top boxes, pagers, and cellular phones. Taking the example of cellular phones, there are often a limited number of keys provided due to the size restrictions of most phones. Cellular phone screen information is additionally often divided into focusable and non-focusable areas. A focusable area is one in which the user may interact. Examples of focusable items include buttons, text input boxes, and lists with check boxes. A non-focusable area is one in which the user may not interact, but rather may only view. Generally this is simply textual material but it could also be graphics. This presents a special problem when scrolling because there needs to be a way to distinguish between a user request to scroll a set number of pixels, and a user request to skip down to the next focusable item. Additionally, when focusable items accept movement within the items, such as a list with check boxes, where a user may move up and down the list and check certain items off, there needs to be a way to distinguish between a user request to scroll a set number of pixels and a user request to skip to the next item in the focusable area.
Current solutions in the cellular phone realm include either providing a different set of keys for scrolling non-focusable areas as for focusable areas or forcing the user to scroll by a specific number of pixels irrespective of focusable or non-focusable areas. Extra keys require additional costs to the manufacturer and too many keys can be overwhelming to inexperienced cell phone users. Forcing the user to scroll by a specific number of pixel irrespective of focusable or non-focusable areas has several drawbacks of its own. The first is that there are often cases where a focusable area, such as a text box smaller than the display screen, is only partially visible in the viewing window. This forces a user to scroll down additional times merely to see what text he is typing. The second is that it can be very time consuming for a user to scroll down through a long list of text merely to get to the next focusable item.
What is needed is a solution which allows a user to scroll both focusable and non-focusable areas in an efficient, yet simple, manner.
Scrolling through one or more focusable and/or non-focusable items may be accomplished by: scrolling the display a set number of pixels in said direction if the cursor location is on a non-focusable item and an end border in said direction of said non-focusable item is not currently shown on the display; moving the cursor location to a next focusable item in said direction and scrolling the display enough in said direction to display said next focusable item if the cursor location is on a non-focusable item and an end border in said direction of said non-focusable item is currently shown on the display or if the cursor location is on a focusable item and a next item in said direction is a focusable item or if the cursor location is on a focusable item, the next item in said direction is a non-focusable item, and an end border in said direction of said non-focusable item is currently shown on the display; and moving the cursor location to a next non-focusable item and scrolling the display in said direction if the cursor location is on a focusable item and a next item in said direction is a non-focusable item having an end border in said direction not currently shown on the display or if the cursor location is on a non-focusable item and an end border in said direction of said non-focusable item is currently shown on the display. Provisions for elements within items are also described. The present invention allows for a user to scroll both focusable and non-focusable areas in an efficient, yet simple, manner, while potentially only using two buttons.